UJIJI AND TANGANIKA. 
375 
Three nights after we saw it still burning about fifteen 
miles north of the locality whence it had first started, 
like a crown of glory on a mountain-top. 
Observation of this fire, and many others, explains 
why, in the midst of African uplands nourishing a dense 
forest, we suddenly come across narrow, far-penetrating 
plains covered with grass. They are, no doubt, so many 
tongue-like extensions from some broader, grass-covered 
expanses caused by fierce fires. Wherever the ground 
retains an excessive quantity of moisture, grasses, with 
stalks as thick as cane, spring up during three months’ 
rain to a height of eight to ten, sometimes fifteen, feet. 
In May these grasses become sere, and by June are as 
dry as tinder. The smallest spark suffices to set them 
in a flame, and the noise of two brigades of infantry 
fighting would hardly exceed the terrible rack, crackle, 
and explosions made by the onrush of the wind-swept 
element. It devours everything that stands before it, 
and roasts the surface of the ground, leaving it parched, 
blackened, and fissured. 
Though the mountains of Marungu are steep, rugged, 
and craggy, the district is surprisingly populous. 
Through the chasms and great canons with which the 
mountains are sometimes cleft, we saw the summits of 
other high mountains, fully 2500 feet above the lake, 
occupied by villages, the inhabitants of which, from the 
inaccessibility of the position they had selected, were 
evidently harassed by some more powerful tribes to the 
westward. 
The neighbourhood of Zongweh Cape is specially dis- 
tinguished for its lofty cones and great mountain masses. 
Mount Murumbi, 2000 feet above the lake, near Muri- 
Kiassi Cape, is a striking feature of the coast of Ma- 
rungu. 
The wooded slopes and dense forest growths which 
fill the gorges are haunts of what the Wangwana call 
“ Soko,” a distinctive title they have given either to 
gorillas or chimpanzees. I heard the voices of several 
at Lunangwa river, but as they were at a considerable 
distance from me, I could not distinguish any great 
